Devices to trap rodents such as mice, rats and other small varmints have been extensively used throughout the world for many years. The most common and well known trap has a spring-loaded bar or jaw which is tripped when an open bait on a tripping pad is disturbed. This trap is well accepted, economical and an efficient rodent killer. However, it is potentially dangerous: care must be taken when loading bait and setting the trap to ensure the individual's fingers are not caught, and the trap can be a danger to small children and pets. Killing a rodent in this open trap can be messy and there remains the unpleasant task of disposing of the dead rodent, which means that the trap itself may simply be thrown away.
Many attempts have been made to build a better mousetrap. Examples are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,528,191, 3,733,735, 4,567,688, 4,829,700, 5,094,027, 5,148,625, 5,345,710, 5,528,852, 5,564,221, and 5,809,688. They all suffer for one or more reasons. As many have discovered, a rodent trap which is capable of competing in the marketplace with the conventional spring-loaded rodent traps has proved elusive. Any new rodent trap must be economical; it must be easy to use; and it must be effective. Ideally, any new rodent trap must not only have all the economical, ease of use and effectiveness attributes of the conventional spring-loaded traps, but it also must have the other attributes of safety and cleanliness, as will readily be appreciated.